Monday, May 12, 2014

David's Oasis

The main area, with the corral behind the wood fence and the clubhouse in the background

David's Oasis is in McNeal, Arizona, a few miles outside Bisbee. Its owner lives in Alaska, I'm told, and the place is managed by "workcampers" who get to stay there for free and get some other perks as well. An application for one of those slots is on their web site,

It has a "clubhouse," the building in the background of this pic, and an area called "The Corral," which is clothing-optional, and has a hot tub and an above-ground pool. All RV sites have fill hookups, but the promised wi-fi was pretty spotty.

DO is listed in directories of gay campgrounds, and has until recently marketed itself to a gay clientele. That's changing, and the plan now seems to be to appeal to a wider audience.

This will be an uphill slog. The two staff I met could not have been more pleasant and helpful. But the place itself is, to put it bluntly, ugly as sin. The only reason to go there, it seems to me, is for a gay social experience of the clothing-optional kind. Absent that, there are other options in the Bisbee area; The Queen Mine RV Park where I stayed the previous night isn't much more attractive, but it's about a 5 minute walk into Bisbee's shops, bars, and restaurants.

The DO staff said I was there "between seasons." The wind was howling, and I was the only paying customer in the place. And in June, the weekend of Bisbee Pride, the place is apparently booked solid for RV's and tent campers. I don't recall the number of reservations, but it was well over a hundred. That could be a good time, since Bisbee Pride has a great reputation in the region. But I doubt they can make a go of it on a few special events. I'd like to be wrong. As things stand, I don't plan to go back, no matter how accommodating the staff.

Here we go ...

This is about my travels in a 1999 24-foot class C motorhome, which I sometimes call "the Beast." It's also about projects, renovations, repairs, and plans which occur to me when I'm on the road.

There's a lot of these RV travel blogs out there. I've listed below some of the ones I read regularly. My intention is not so much to publish a travel magazine, but to record where I went and what I did and what I did to the rig and what I'd like to do. Something close to the original meaning of "log." Random thoughts on the general enterprise of RV travel will creep in.